Workplace Stress Essay

Introduction Occupational stress is a serious subject that is affecting both employees and employers. In fact, more than one third of workers experience prolonged stress at the workplace, which is costing businesses billions of dollars yearly in medical bills and lost work hours due to low productivity. Of more importance is the fact that this stress can have serious magnitudes on the workers quality of life both at the office and everywhere else. The question is how we can recover our rationality and grab our lives back. Stress is the physical and psychological state that occurs when individual’s resources are insufficient to cope with the pressures and demands of workplace situation and can undermine the achievement of goals for
The factors that have been associated with health risks and stress are categorized as those dealing with work content and those dealing with organizational and social work context (Brantley, Matik, & W.-O, 2007, p. xx). The intrinsic factors include work overload, long hours, complex tasks, time pressure, no breaks, monotony and poor conditions of working station. Conflicting roles or unclear work can cause stress, same as having responsibility for people. The likelihoods career development is a vital shield against workplace stress, while insufficient training, less promotion and job insecurity cause stress (Carlson, 1998, p. xx). Workplace relationships and the organizational culture cause stress, for instance, demanding, unsupportive or bullying managers create stress to
It is worth noting that an organizational change, especially in cases where consultation is inadequate, such as those involving mergers, acquisitions, relocation, downsizing or restructuring, redundancies within the organization and individual contracts have serious effects on employees (Carlson, 1998, p. xx). How to reduce stress In order to reduce stress, there is a need to look into three areas of our own lives: mental health, physical health and also our sense of purpose. By addressing these areas, we can effectively reduce stress to a level that is beneficial to us and the organization
a. Keeping track of stressors It is good to keep a journal for some time like a week or two in order to identify situations creating most stress and how we respond to such. Recording feelings, thoughts and information concerning environment, such as circumstances and people involved in physical setting (Murphy & Cooper, 2003, p. xx). It is important for employee to keep such records, for instance, answering of questions such as did you go for a walk when such instances occurred? Did you get angry? Did you raise your voice? In find your stressors and your reactions to them, taking such notes helps a great